ISA HK/China --- HK Tree News (Appalling English of HK Graduates 80後面試口啞 「you can 唔 can」)

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*** Our weekly Station Mail is for the information of Station Members only, but Station Mail has given up copyright & can be freely circulated. For administrative reasons, comments from outsiders are usually not entertained & may be circulated within our system locally & overseas. Please note Station Mail is sometimes given in Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com  in English, although images are usually not attached due to size. ***


Dear Station Members,

It is not the first time that ISA HK/China has issued Station Mail on the concern of poor English standard in HK, & yet HK is supposed to have the best English education with her colonial past & being an international city in the Far East.

Poor English would inadvertently affect the quality of our Arborist Reports, tarnish the publication of our research if any, & mock our communication with other Arborists around the world. Arborists in our territory are sometimes regarded as insufficient in their writing skills, & bad English would appear as a major culprit.

In HK today, a lot of Tree Reports would follow the pattern of Consulting Arboriculture (http://www.asca-consultants.org/), as the Arborist has to justify why trees are to be retained, transplanted, felled & replaced. A lot of such reports are currently written in the requirement of Tree Survey with simple definition in good, fair & poor to a tree, without further scientific justification on Tree Biology or Biomechanics. For example, if a tree has a decay somewhere, at best a decay-detection result would be given, but no research would be quoted to justify why such decay would cause failure under what condition. Subjective judgment of personal liking is the usual option, which can be misleading without back-up of standards, guidelines or even rule of thumb. This may be one of the reasons why so many trees were felled once after Risk Assessment. How many of us would go further than to explore the genuine reason of why a tree is recommended felling, & for what ?

Internationally, Consulting Arborist Report would be written similar to an Engineering Report, in a similar justification style. Then if such a report is written with incorrect spelling & broken grammar, inconsistent explanations & indecisive conclusion, would it really serve the purpose of what it is asked for ? Is not presentable English an entry to writing scientific report for basic communication ?

Therefore, as 90+% of ISA research & publications are written in English today, mastering this language is a must for our Qualified Arborist (http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/2010/09/isa-hkchina-qualified-arborist-qa.html) system. It is also an important element to move up the ladder in the Arborist Profession.

Go learn English well then, may the best of you ...

best regards,

Sammy Au
President (Station Manager)
Registered Consulting Arborist no. RCA#497 (http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/2010/12/isa-hkchina-first-rca-in-asia.html )
ISA Board Certified Master Arborist / Certified Tree Worker no. HK-0174BT (http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/2011/03/isa-hkchina-first-bcma-in-asia.html )
Independent Practicing Arborist no. IPA-010908 (http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/2010/04/isa-hkchina-hk-tree-news-14410-report.html )

"Providing treatment without in-depth diagnosis & research support is professional misconduct. "


"Casual tree assessor delivers wanton tree assessment. Mother Nature makes the rules."


亲爱的会员，

ISA中国分会不只第一次颁布电邮引起在香港英语水平差的关注，但香港在过去是殖民地的背景和作为一个国际城市，应该有最好的英语教育。

英文不好会无意中会影响树艺师报告的质量，令到我们的研究刊物失色，及讥讽我们与世界各地其它树艺师的沟通。在香港的树艺师，有时被视为写作技巧不足，而英文不好会被视为一个主要的罪魁祸首。

在香港的今天，很多树木的报告属于顾问树艺报告（http://www.asca/ - consultants.org）。作为树艺师应要解释为何要保留树木，移植，砍伐和更换。而目前很多这类的树木评估报告只简单的把树木质量分成好的、中等的和差劣的，并没有进一步的利用树木生物学或生物力学去进行科学辨析。例如，如果树木存在腐烂，充其量只给一个仪器检测结果，而没有引述研究报告为何这样的衰变会在哪里导致失败，或可能在什么条件下倒塌。个人喜好的主观判断，可能在没有标准、准则或经验法则的支持下而产生误导。

在国际上，这类顾问树艺报告应被写成工程报告，有一个类似的描述风格。但如果这样的报告存在着不正确的拼字和文法，不一致的解释和模棱两可的结论，这报告是否能写出的目的吗？是不是不象样的英文是编写这类科学报告的不二法门？

目前，百分之九十以上的ISA研究和出版刊物都采用英语写作，掌握这语言是作为一个 “认可树艺师” 的必须条件（http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/2010/09/isa-hkchina-qualified-arboristqa.html ）。这也是树艺师专业阶梯上移的重要元素。

希望你们当中最好的, 能夠学好英语…

此致

国际树木学会 中国地区分会会长

欧永森
顾问树艺师号 RCA#497 (http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/2010/12/isa-hkchina-first-rca-in-asia.html)
资深树艺师 / 注册攀树师号HK-0174BT(http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/2011/03/isa-hkchina-first-bcma-in-asia.html)
执业树艺师号IPA-010908 (http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/2010/04/isa-hkchina-tree-news-14410-report.html)


“没有深入诊断及探究支持去作出治疗，是专业失误。”


“速成出来的树木评估员，只会作出胡乱的树木评估。大自然会决定成败。”


( 以上由注册树艺师周志贤 HK-0280A 翻译。一切内容以英文版本为准。 )



港聞80後面試口啞 「you can唔can」 打工仔測試 8成英文僅初中程度

又到大學生搵工季節，但80後的面試英語卻「嚇壞人」，有大學生以「My Name is......」作自我介紹，其後口啞啞沒下文。有英語培訓中心指，有8成接受會話及聆聽英語測試的上班族的英語水平，只達中一、二程度，有碩士生甚至未達TOEFL水平。

有人事顧問稱，有身經百戰的管理層求職，英文語法同樣錯漏百出。

英語熟練度 港排12遜大馬

英孚教育（EF）早前調查了44個非英語為母語地區的「英語熟練度」，結果本港排名12，落後排第9的馬來西亞（註︰調查未包括新加坡）。

英語培訓中心Prime English學術總監Wennita Fong表示，學員在參加課程前須接受英語聆聽測試，內容與職場用語、電話交談相關，程度與TOEFL相近，以50分為合格，但有4成大學生測試並不合格，當中包括碩士生，令人大跌眼鏡。

細妹說成「small sister」

她說，剛有大學生在英語面試環節中，介紹自己家庭成員，但將「細妹」說成「small sister」。另有人問對方能否按時完成工作，說成：「you can唔can？」。

她認為，近年大學生的英語書寫能力有下降趨勢，可能與年輕人多以網絡溝通，彼此不再太注重文法有關。

Englishtown 大中華區總裁張志深表示，本港上班族的英文水平不進反退，在報讀機構課程前，會被安排進行英文水平測試，發現8成上班族聽、講能力，僅中一、二程度。

從事大專及成人英語教育多年的何佩玲表示，上班族英文欠佳，會阻礙事業發展。

中原人力資源顧問有限公司董事總經理周綺萍指出，70、80後英文程度很一般，不少大學生的英文程度低過中七生。她曾以英文問求職 的大學生「Career planning」，但對方即時口窒窒，不知有關英文意思。

見工高層 I have變I has

英文差並不限於大學生，管理層見工的英文同樣錯漏百出，語法尤其嚇怕人。周指，有人將「I have」說成「I has」，或將「watch movies」說成「see films」；但她強調，如錯誤不影響溝通，亦不至於阻礙仕途發展。

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